High Court Tapped Fee Pool to Open Term

Bankruptcy and other court fees, it turns out, may have helped the U.S. Supreme Court open its 2013-2014 term on Monday even though a partial government shutdown has shuttered federal operations across the nation’s capital.

The high court kicked off the new term with a pair of oral arguments, a crowd of spectators and a full court staff on hand. Life at the high court, at least by outward appearances, appeared much the same as ever.

The high court isn’t flouting the law. It is doing what some federal agencies that operate from both service fees and congressional appropriations are allowed to do: use fee revenue as a way to stay open without addressing the question of essential government services. Federal trial and appellate courts, part of the judiciary like the high court, have taken the same approach.

The Supreme Court generally has a separate budget from the rest of the U.S. courts, but during the shutdown it has been continuing its operations by tapping into the larger pool of funds held and collected by the judiciary, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said.

The judiciary derives part of its funding independent from the congressional appropriations process by collecting a variety of fees, including a sizeable chunk of money from bankruptcy filing fees, says David Sellers, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That money can be used for the maintenance and operations of the court system.

The courts also have been maintaining operations by tapping into a pool of money from past congressional appropriations, for things like security and technology, that didn’t have to be spent under a specific timeframe, Mr. Sellers said.

The judiciary, however, soon could burn through the money in both accounts. Following the shutdown, the Administrative Office said the federal judiciary would remain open for about 10 business days and indicated that it would reassess the situation on or around Oct. 15.

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, announced last week that it would continue its normal operations through Oct. 11. It said it would provide further updates if the shutdown continues.

While the shutdown has forced government agencies to furlough workers deemed nonessential, some federal courts are already laying the groundwork for a different approach that doesn’t depend on court fees and maintenance funds.

For example, U.S. Chief Judge Loretta Preska for the Southern District of New York declared her court’s workers essential and said most normal operations would continue because “the dispensing of justice” was mandated by the Constitution and “essential to any government of free people.”

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